Modest componets, great sound!

New to forum, but have followed site for a few years. Found alot of good info here and seen some excellent systems.

Here is my system: Have been working on it for 30+ yrs in one way, shape, or combination. The oldest component is the main speakers, I made these in the mid '70s using parts and plans from a now defunct Seattle company, Speakerlab. Went way past the mininum specs they called for in the cabinets, alot more wall thickness and weight (250# each) bass 10" and 12", 24" alum mid range horn, an Electro voice tweeter, modeled them to look like Altec # 19s. All drivers coated with plasti Clay to dampen.

Next oldest the sub bass speakers. 15" JBL drives, cabinets 1" MDF board 2 layers on 5 sides single ply on driver baffle (265# each) Don't buy the idea of a single sub bass so I built 2 speakers. Also like lots of mass to keep things from moving around.

Have used different electronics over the years, amps-from 2 SWTP Tigersaris kits (a true bag kit if there ever was one) Heath 1640AA, 2 Hafler 500s, 2 Sherwood 6040s, to what I have now 4 Harman Kardon Citation 22s and 2 Parasound HCA 750As.

Preamp- from Dynaco PAT5, Sherwood 6020, HK 21, Audio Research LS3 with Cambridge 540 phono preamp, to what I have now a Classe DR5.

Went to active crossovers quite a few years ago with 1st a Rane AC23 and added a Audio Control Richter Scale when I added the subs. I wanted to get rid of the passive crossover and wire the speakers a straight shot from the amps, the extra interconnects are the only drawback to this set up. The 6 stereo amps are combined either in mono or each channel to one driver in the stero mode. So far I haven't blown anything and I've played this system as loud as humanely possible, sometime you just need an audio overload fix!

Seems to me the system sounds great at soft, low levels all the way to as loud as you can take, just great sound on any type of music, no overloads, clipping or distortion. Don't think I did anything great to do this just kept trying to improve anyway I could, just lucked out. Guess a stopped clock is right twice a day.

At low level I used Sue Raneys' song "Emily" to check different changes. You can hear the fingers slide across the bass strings with a dead silent background. Like Rolling Stones "Missing You" or PFs' "Time" to check the loud stuff. "Time" seems to move the 15" driver about 3/4" or more but the HK amp in mono seems to be able to control it!

VERY-nice system. Those speakers are awesome. I bet you can go LOUD without losing the character and definition. I'd hate to have to move them though. I guess it's like moving a bedroom-dresser - Take the clothes out first.

Thanks for all the kind comments, sorta feel like Blanche deVois from " Street Car Named Desire", "I live for the kindness of strangers." And there are some strange people on this forum.

Questions on amp: as I said there are 4 HK Citation 22s- 1 set in mono for for each sub bass speaker fed from AC Richter Scale crossover up to 90hz, the 3rd and 4th HK22 amps in stereo -1 channel hooked up to 10" woofer the other channel to the 12" one amp per side, both channels fed by the same signal using a 1 to 2 splitter at Rane AC23 crossover from 90hz to 800hz.

The Parasound 75s in stereo with 1 channel running the mid range horn from the Rane 23 set 800hz to 6000hz the other channel running the tweeter from the Rane 23 set from 6000hz up. This is per each side for total of 2 amps. All speaker wiring is straight from amp to speaker no protective devices. Not sure what you could use anyway?

By calling the system modest I wasn't trying to be glib just saying each single component is somewhat modest but still being able to get great sound by the combinations made.

After reading reviews of different amps through out the years I wondered why not combine the best of different amps with active crossovers to get the range of sound the amps does it best work in. Guess this should lead to using tube amps for the hi mid to top end and solid state for the mid end down. I haven't made it to any tube amps yet, maybe because of cost, I'm a CSOB for most of my audio purchases, most stuff is used (good condition) or built. Will end it for now don't want to become.

Hi everybody. For some reason I'm not allowed to start a post even though I've got a name and password (no clue why) and I hate to start out asking for a freebie, but I've got a Harman Kardon 25II and can't find a manual for it. Can anybody help? Also, can you tell me why I can't post on here? Thanks.

The horn I used is not the same as the horn that came in the big SPL#7s. My horns are 24" in length and made from cast aluminum, think they are Klips K 400 clones, they stick out from the back of the cabinet about 6". Think the '7s midhorn was stamped steel and was fully contained inside speaker box.

Remembering when I built my units they called the plans something like "A Super 7." Horns would be like what came on the Klips Horn knockoff. I have about 6-7# of plasti clay covering the horn body and driver, also on the horn tweeters. You can tap the bodies with no ringing or whatever.

Speakerlab had a big following for quite a few years, from the post hippie era when some guys had some different ideas about making their own speakers and helping other do it too(and make a few bucks too.) One of the things I took away was how alot more mass/weight /wall stiffness would help produce better sound. Alot of consideration by speaker manufactures is shipping weight, keep things as light as possible while still getting the job done. This may not always lead to the best sound. Get rid of alot of the compromises that go into making speakers and the sound gets better.

I also built some Dynaco stuff during this period. Guess people got to the point they didn't want to build it themselves and these companies changed or went out of business. Good to see a resergence in people wanting to construct their own gear again. Think being able to share info with others on the net has been a big boost in these endeavors.